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Election night infighting on Fox News - video

Republican pundit Karl Rove questions his employer’s as they call the state of Ohio for President Obama - cue a visit to the "Decision Desk"...

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Written By

Daniel Bettridge

9:05 AM, 08 November 2012

An intra-channel squabble broke out on Fox News during Tuesday night’s coverage of the US elections in which Barack Obama defeated his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to secure another four-year stint in The White House.

Republican strategist Karl Rove, a former Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush who now serves as a Fox News pundit, took umbrage at his employer’s decision to call the state of Ohio for Obama; thus ending any hopes of a Romney victory.

Rove wasn’t willing to concede that Obama had won, describing the network’s decision to call Ohio for the incumbent President as “premature” before warning “I’d be very cautious about intruding into the process.”

An on-set squabble ensued which was only calmed when Fox presenter Megyn Kelly went off in search of the “Decision Desk” to speak directly the number crunchers who’d made the projection. Followed by cameras into the bowels of the Fox News building she was eventually able to confront the statisticians over Rove’s concerns, but they refused to change their decision.

“We're actually quite comfortable with the call in Ohio," one said. “Well, there you have it,” Kelly replied. “They seem very confident” a statement which forced Rove into making a retreat.